Systems and methods for recording content from a different source when previous content runs over

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for recording content from a different source when previous content runs over are provided. A recording of a first media asset from a first content source is scheduled. The first media asset is scheduled for transmission from the first content source at a start time following a scheduled transmission end time of a second media asset from the first content source. Transmission of the second media asset from the first content source is determined to run past the scheduled end time. A determination is made, based on a visual component and/or an audible component of the second media asset, that transmission of the first media asset at the start time from the first content source has been changed to a second content source. The recording of the first media asset is modified to record the first media asset at the start time from the second content source.

BACKGROUND

Typically, changes to scheduled program recordings are performed usinginformation contained in an update to guide information. For example, aprogram may be scheduled for recording from a given channel. At somepoint before the start of the program, an update is received indicatinga different channel for that program and the recording is modifiedaccordingly. These systems, however, fail to consider the content of aprogram for information pertaining to a change in the scheduledrecording of another program.

SUMMARY

These and other objects are accomplished in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention by sounding a message identifying acontent source to a user during an advertisement.

In some embodiments, a recording of a first media asset from a firstcontent source may be scheduled. The first media asset may be scheduledfor transmission at a start time from the first content source. Thestart time of the first media asset may follow a scheduled end time oftransmission of a second media asset from the first content source. Insome implementations, the start time may be immediately adjacent to theend time of the transmission of the second media asset. In someembodiments, other media assets may be transmitted between the end timeof the second media asset and the start time of the first media asset.

A detection may be made that the transmission of the second media assetfrom the first content source will continue beyond the scheduled endtime. Specifically, a determination that the second media asset willhave an overrun may be performed. In some implementations, the detectionmay be made based on a trigger received in the video signal of thesecond media asset. The detection may be made based on a triggerreceived from an external or alternative source (e.g., an Internetsource that is different from the first content source). In someimplementations, the detection may be made based on a visual/audiblecomponent of the second media asset. In particular, a score or timeremaining in the second media asset may be processed to determine thatthe second media asset will be transmitted beyond the scheduled endtime.

In some embodiments, responsive to detecting that the second media assetwill continue to be transmitted beyond the scheduled end time, at leastone of a visual component(s) and an audible component(s) of the secondmedia asset may be processed. The at least one of a visual component andan audible component may be processed to determine whether a contentsource from which the first media asset was originally-scheduled to betransmitted at the start time has been changed from the first contentsource to a second content source. In some implementations, textualinformation (e.g., closed-caption information or background information)included in the second media asset may be cross-referenced with adatabase to determine whether words/phrases in the textual informationindicate a change in the content source of the first media asset. Insome embodiments, the word/phrase may identify the second contentsource. In some implementations, audible components of the second mediaasset may be converted to text using a speech-to-text engine to generatethe textual information.

In some implementations, the visual component may include at least oneof closed-caption information, a score associated with the second mediaasset, a visual prompt, and a banner that includes a message thatindicates the that the content source from which the first media assetwas originally-scheduled to be transmitted at the start time has beenchanged. In some implementations, the audible component may include anaudible message or announcement that indicates that the content sourcefrom which the first media asset was originally scheduled to betransmitted at the start time has been changed.

In some embodiments, the scheduled recording of the first media assetmay be modified to record the first media asset at the start time fromthe second content source instead of the first content source. In someimplementations, the first media asset may be recorded from the secondcontent source while the second media asset continues to be transmittedfrom the first content source. In some embodiments, the second contentsource may be related to the first content source. Specifically, thesecond content source may be affiliated or be associated with a sameentity as the first content source (e.g., ESPN1 and ESPN2).

In some embodiments, at least one of the visual component(s) and theaudible component(s) of the second media asset from the first contentsource may continue to be monitored while the first media asset is beingrecorded from the second content source. A determination may be made asto when transmission of the second media asset will end based onmonitoring at least one of the visual component(s) and the audiblecomponent(s) of the second media asset. The scheduled recording of thefirst media asset may be modified to record the first media asset fromthe first content source instead of the second content source when thesecond media asset ends. In some implementations, a first portion of thefirst media asset is recorded from the first content source and a secondportion of the first media asset is recorded from the second contentsource.

In some embodiments, the first and second media assets may be first andsecond sporting events. The first sporting event may be scheduled fortransmission from a first content source before the second sportingevent is transmitted from the same first content source. The secondsporting event may be selected (manually or automatically) forrecording. While the first sporting event is being transmitted, thevisual/audible component of the first sporting event may be processed. Adetermination may be made that the first sporting event will have anoverrun. Because of the overrun, the first content source may modify thetransmission source of the second sporting event to allow the firstsporting event to finish being transmitted while allowing the secondsporting event to begin transmission at the scheduled start time. Such asystem enables users to continue watching either event without missingthe beginning of the second sporting event due to the delay. If thesecond sporting event were not transmitted at the scheduled start timefrom a new content source, the beginning of the second sporting eventwould be missed by users watching outside of the event (e.g., at home)as the sporting event would have started before transmission of thesporting event was made available to the users.

The visual/audible component of the first sporting event may identify anew content source from which the second sporting event (selected forrecording) will be transmitted at the original scheduled start time.Specifically, a ticker, banner or announcer may notify users watchingthe first sporting event that the second sporting event will betransmitted from the new content source instead of the current firstcontent source. Information included in the ticker, banner or announcermay be extracted to identify the new content source and a recordingparameter of the second sporting event may be modified to cause thesecond sporting event to be recorded from the new content source at theoriginal scheduled start time.

In some embodiments, the scheduled recording of the first media assetmay be modified to record the first media asset from the second contentsource instead of the first content source at some point in the middleof the transmission of the first media asset. In particular, the firstmedia asset may initially start being recorded from a first contentsource and at some point in the middle or elsewhere (e.g., 10 minutesafter the start time of the media asset) of the transmission of themedia asset, an event may cause the first media asset to be transmittedfrom a second content source instead of the first content source. Insome implementations, at least one of the visual component(s) and theaudible component(s) of the first media asset from the first contentsource may be monitored while the first media asset is being recordedfrom the first content source to detect the event (e.g., aninterruption, breaking news announcement or service alert message). Insome implementations, the at least one of a visual component(s) and anaudible component(s) may be processed to determine whether a contentsource from which the first media asset is being transmitted has beenchanged from the first content source to a second content source.Responsive to determining that the content source of the first mediaasset has been changed, the recording of the first media asset may bemodified to continue recording the first media asset from the secondcontent source instead of the first content source. Accordingly, a firstportion of the first media asset (e.g., the portion preceding the event)may be recorded from the first content source and a second portion ofthe first media asset (e.g., the portion following the event) may berecorded from the second content source.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features of the present invention, its nature, andvarious advantages will be more apparent upon consideration of thefollowing detailed description, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an interactive grid display in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an interactive media system in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment device inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative display screen of a media asset thatincludes information about a change affecting a scheduled recording ofanother media asset in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure;and

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram describing the process of processingaudible/visual components of a second media asset to modify recordingparameter of a first media asset in accordance with some embodiments ofthe disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The amount of content available to users in any given content deliverysystem can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form ofmedia guidance through an interface that allows users to efficientlynavigate content selections and easily identify content that they maydesire. An application that provides such guidance is referred to hereinas an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a mediaguidance application or a guidance application.

Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms dependingon the content for which they provide guidance. One typical type ofmedia guidance application is an interactive television program guide.Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof content or media assets. Interactive media guidance applications maygenerate graphical user interface screens that enable a user to navigateamong, locate and select content. As referred to herein, the terms“media asset” and “content” should be understood to mean anelectronically consumable user asset, such as television programming, aswell as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand(VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming content, downloadablecontent, Webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information,pictures, rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles,books, electronic books, blogs, advertisements, chat sessions, socialmedia, applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/orcombination of the same. Guidance applications also allow users tonavigate among and locate content. As referred to herein, the term“multimedia” should be understood to mean content that utilizes at leasttwo different content forms described above, for example, text, audio,images, video, or interactivity content forms. Content may be recorded,played, displayed or accessed by user equipment devices, but can also bepart of a live performance.

Each media asset may include or be associated with certain subjectmatter. The subject matter or content included in or associated with agiven media asset may change while the media asset is being presented.For example, one portion of the media asset may includecommercials/advertisements (e.g., one form or type of subject matter)and another portion of the media asset may include portions of the plot.In another example, the media asset may include an action segment in oneportion and a drama segment in another. Subject matter may be predefinedin a media asset data structure received from a remote source (asdiscussed below). In some implementations, subject matter may bedetermined on-the-fly automatically based on an analysis of the contentbeing presented to the user. For example, closed-caption information maybe processed to determine the subject matter of the content beingpresented.

As referred to herein the phrase “subject matter” refers to any contentcriterion or characteristic associated with the media asset. Forexample, subject matter may indicate whether a portion of a media assetis a commercial/advertisement segment, whether a portion of a mediaasset is a plot segment, a type of the media asset, category of themedia asset, genre of the media asset, content source of the media asset(e.g., broadcast source, Internet source, on-demand source, music typeof source, music type of channel, video type of source, video typechannel, etc.), time of day (e.g., morning, afternoon, evening), or anycombination thereof.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speedwireless networks, users are accessing media on user equipment deviceson which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein, the phrase“user equipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,” “electronicdevice,” “electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,” or “mediadevice” should be understood to mean any device for accessing thecontent described above, such as a television, a Smart TV, a set-topbox, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellitetelevision, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), adigital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, aDVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, aBLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PCmedia server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationarytelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, aportable video player, a portable music player, a portable gamingmachine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment, computingequipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the same. In someembodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing screenand a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multiple angledscreens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a frontfacing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On these user equipmentdevices, users may be able to navigate among and locate the same contentavailable through a television. Consequently, media guidance may beavailable on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be forcontent available only through a television, for content available onlythrough one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or forcontent available both through a television and one or more of the othertypes of user equipment devices. The media guidance applications may beprovided as on-line applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or asstand-alone applications or clients on user equipment devices. Variousdevices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications aredescribed in more detail below.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to providemedia guidance data to users. As referred to herein, the phrase, “mediaguidance data” or “guidance data” should be understood to mean any datarelated to content, such as media listings, media-related information(e.g., broadcast times, broadcast channels, titles, descriptions,ratings information (e.g., parental control ratings, critic's ratings,etc.), genre or category information, actor information, logo data forbroadcasters' or providers' logos, etc.), media format (e.g., standarddefinition, high definition, 3D, etc.), advertisement information (e.g.,text, images, media clips, etc.), on-demand information, blogs,websites, subject matter information, and any other type of guidancedata that is helpful for a user to navigate among and locate desiredcontent selections.

FIGS. 1-2 show illustrative display screens that may be used to providemedia guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 1-2 and 5 may beimplemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. While thedisplays of FIGS. 1-2 and 5 are illustrated as full screen displays,they may also be fully or partially overlaid over content beingdisplayed. A user may indicate a desire to access content information byselecting a selectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menuoption, a listings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing adedicated button (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or otheruser input interface or device. In response to the user's indication,the media guidance application may provide a display screen with mediaguidance data organized in one of several ways, such as by time andchannel in a grid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, bycategory (e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories ofprogramming), or other predefined, user-defined, or other organizationcriteria. The organization of the media guidance data is determined byguidance application data. As referred to herein, the phrase, “guidanceapplication data” should be understood to mean data used in operatingthe guidance application, such as program information, guidanceapplication settings, user preferences, or user profile information.

FIG. 1 shows illustrative grid program listings display 100 arranged bytime and channel that also enables access to different types of contentin a single display. Display 100 may include grid 102 with: (1) a columnof channel/content type identifiers 104, where each channel/content typeidentifier (which is a cell in the column) identifies a differentchannel or content type available or media asset characteristics; and(2) a row of time identifiers 106, where each time identifier (which isa cell in the row) identifies a time block of programming. The mediaasset characteristics indicated in column of channel/content typeidentifiers 104 may include any combination of criteria that identifiesa plurality of media assets (e.g., content source of a respective one ofthe media assets, a content type of the respective one of the mediaassets, or a content category of the respective one of the mediaassets). Although grid 102 is a by time-channel grid, any other type ofgrid may be provided such that time is shown on one dimension and amedia characteristic is shown on another. For example, grid 102 may bearranged so that time is shown as in grid 102 and the column ofidentifiers may represent categories of different media assets or typesof content sources (e.g., satellite and Internet). In particular,instead of showing the different programs available on a given channel(e.g., channel 2, FOX) at various times, grid 102 may display differentprograms that are of the genre or category (comedy) at various timesregardless of what source they are received from.

Grid 102 also includes cells of program listings, such as programlisting 108, where each listing provides the title of the programprovided on the listing's associated channel and time. As referred toherein, the term “program” should be understood to be synonymous with“media,” “media asset,” “asset,” and/or “content”. With a user inputdevice, a user can select program listings by moving highlight region110. Information relating to the program listing selected by highlightregion 110 may be provided in program information region 112. Region 112may include, for example, the program title, the program description,the time the program is provided (if applicable) (e.g., the transmissiontime of the program), the channel or content source of the program (ifapplicable), the program's rating, and other desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., contentthat is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipmentdevices at a predetermined transmission time and is provided accordingto a schedule), the media guidance application also provides access tonon-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipmentdevice at any time and is not provided according to a schedule).Non-linear programming may include content from different contentsources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g.,streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content(e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above orother storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demandcontent may include movies or any other content provided by a particularcontent provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “CurbYour Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time WarnerCompany L. P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM aretrademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content mayinclude web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or contentavailable on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content throughan Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g., FTP).

Grid 102 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programmingincluding on-demand listings, recorded content listings, and Internetcontent listings. A display combining media guidance data for contentfrom different types of content sources is sometimes referred to as a“mixed-media” display. Various permutations of the types of mediaguidance data that may be displayed that are different than display 100may be based on user selection or guidance application definition (e.g.,a display of only recorded and broadcast listings, only on-demand andbroadcast listings, etc.). In some embodiments, listings for thesecontent types may be included directly in grid 102. Additional mediaguidance data may be displayed in response to the user selecting one ofthe navigational icons 120. (Pressing an arrow key on a user inputdevice may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons 120.) Specifically, the user may navigate along thetime dimension to later or earlier times using icons 120.

In some embodiments, a user may select a given media asset listing fromgrid 102 for recording. For example, a user may highlight one of thelistings that corresponds to a given media asset (e.g., “Dolphins v.Jets”, a sporting event scheduled for transmission from ESPN, a firstcontent source). The user may select an option (e.g., on-screenselectable option or a button on an input device) to schedule recordingof the selected media asset. Control circuitry 304 may store parametersof the selected media asset for recording the media asset when the mediaasset is scheduled for transmission from the first content source. Forexample, control circuitry 304 may store in storage 308 as the recordingparameters the first content source from which the media asset isscheduled for transmission, a start time of the scheduled transmission,and an end time of the scheduled transmission, and/or a title or uniqueidentifier of the media asset. Based on the recording parameters,control circuitry 304 may control a storage device to begin recording orstoring the media asset at the start time from the specified firstcontent source and end recording at the end time. In someimplementations, control circuitry 304 may also include in theparameters a list of any number of media assets, and/or their respectivescheduled transmission start and end times, which are scheduled fortransmission before the selected media asset from the same first contentsource.

In some embodiments, at a time period (user selected or predeterminedamount) before the start time of the scheduled recording specified inthe recording parameters, control circuitry 304 may retrieve the list ofmedia assets specified in the recording parameters. In someimplementations, the time period may correspond to the start time of themedia asset that immediately precedes the start time of the media assetselected for recording (e.g., a media asset that is scheduled fortransmission between 7-8 PM where the media asset selected for recordingstarts at 8 PM). In some implementations, the time period may correspondto the start time of the media asset that precedes the start time of themedia asset selected for recording by any amount of time (e.g., one ormore media assets that are scheduled for transmission between 4-8 PMwhere the media asset selected for recording starts at 8 PM).

Control circuitry 304 may monitor the visual/audible components (e.g.,announcer, banners displayed in the media asset, real-time sportsticker/information) of those media assets to determine whether one ormore of those media assets will continue to be transmitted beyond theirrespective scheduled end time. As referred to herein, the term “overrun”or the phrase “have an overrun” refers to a situation in which a mediaasset continues to be transmitted beyond the scheduled end time of themedia asset. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may receive atrigger in the video signal of the media asset being monitoredindicating that the media asset will have an overrun. The trigger mayinclude digital/analog information that includes instructions, that arenot displayed or presented to the user, that cause control circuitry 304to store information indicating that the media asset will have anoverrun. Control circuitry 304 may then act in accordance with thestored information indicating the overrun to modify a scheduledrecording of a media asset scheduled for transmission after the mediaasset that has the overrun. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304may determine that the media asset will have an overrun based on atrigger received in the video signal of the media asset being monitoredindicating that the media asset will have an overrun and/or monitoringthe visual/audible components of the media asset.

The embodiments described pertain to the trigger(s) being received inthe video signal of a given media asset. However, in someimplementations, the trigger may be received from an alternate source(e.g., a source different from the source of the media asset) while themedia asset is being received from a given source. The alternate sourcemay be a supplemental data feed or Internet source.

In response to determining that one of the media assets in the liststored in the recording parameters will have an overrun, controlcircuitry 304 may process the visual/audible components of the mediaasset (e.g., “Family Guy v. Seinfeld” or “Bulls vs. Heat”, a sportingevent scheduled for transmission from ESPN, the first content source)having the overrun to determine whether the visual/audible componentscorrespond to the media asset selected for recording. Control circuitry304 may also determine whether the visual/audible componentscorresponding to the media asset selected for recording identify asecond content source (e.g., ESPN2) from which the media asset selectedfor recording will be transmitted at the stored scheduled start time. Inresponse to determining that the visual/audible components identify anew content source for the media asset selected for recording, controlcircuitry 304 may modify the content source specified in the recordingparameters to correspond to the second content source. Accordingly, atthe start time specified in the recording parameters for the mediaasset, the media asset will be recorded from the second content sourceinstead of the previously stored first content source.

In some embodiments, while the media asset is being recorded, controlcircuitry 304 may monitor the visual/audible components (e.g.,announcer, banners displayed in the media asset, and/or real-time sportsticker/information) of the media asset being recorded to determinewhether the visual/audible components identify a third content source(e.g., ESPN3) from which the media asset being recorded will continue tobe transmitted. In response to determining that the visual/audiblecomponents identify a third content source for the media asset selectedfor recording, control circuitry 304 may modify the content sourcespecified in the recording parameters to correspond to the third contentsource. Accordingly, the media asset will continue to be recorded fromthe third content source instead of the second content source. In someimplementations, the third content source may be the same as theoriginal first content source of the media asset selected for recording.In such circumstances, when the recording of the media asset ends at thescheduled end time of the media asset, a portion of the media asset thatis recorded corresponds to the portion of the media asset that wasreceived from the second content source and another portion of the mediaasset that is recorded corresponds to the portion of the media assetthat was received from the third content source.

Display 100 may also include video region 122, advertisement 124, andoptions region 126. Video region 122 may allow the user to view and/orpreview programs that are currently available, will be available, orwere available to the user. The content of video region 122 maycorrespond to, or be independent from, one of the listings displayed ingrid 102. Grid displays including a video region are sometimes referredto as picture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and theirfunctionalities are described in greater detail in Satterfield et al.U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat.No. 6,239,794, issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated byreference herein in their entireties. PIG displays may be included inother media guidance application display screens of the embodimentsdescribed herein.

Advertisement 124 may provide an advertisement for content that,depending on a viewer's access rights (e.g., for subscriptionprogramming), is currently available for viewing, will be available forviewing in the future, or may never become available for viewing, andmay correspond to, or be unrelated to one or more of the contentlistings in grid 102. Advertisement 124 may also be for products orservices related or unrelated to the content displayed in grid 102.Advertisement 124 may be selectable and provide further informationabout content, provide information about a product or a service, enablepurchasing of content, a product, or a service, provide content relatingto the advertisement, etc. Advertisement 124 may be targeted based on auser's profile/preferences, monitored user activity, the type of displayprovided, or on other suitable targeted advertisement bases.

While advertisement 124 is shown as rectangular or banner shaped,advertisements may be provided in any suitable size, shape, and locationin a guidance application display. For example, advertisement 124 may beprovided as a rectangular shape that is horizontally adjacent to grid102. This is sometimes referred to as a panel advertisement. Inaddition, advertisements may be overlaid over content or a guidanceapplication display or embedded within a display. Advertisements mayalso include text, images, rotating images, video clips, or other typesof content described above. Advertisements may be stored in a userequipment device having a guidance application, in a database connectedto the user equipment, in a remote location (including streaming mediaservers), or on other storage means, or a combination of theselocations. Providing advertisements in a media guidance application isdiscussed in greater detail in, for example, Knudson et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2003/0110499, filed Jan. 17, 2003; Ward, IIIet al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,997, issued Jun. 29, 2004; and Schein et al.U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,714, issued May 14, 2002, which are herebyincorporated by reference herein in their entireties. It will beappreciated that advertisements may be included in other media guidanceapplication display screens of the embodiments described herein.

Options region 126 may allow the user to access different types ofcontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 126 may be part of display 100 (andother display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user byselecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignablebutton on a user input device. The selectable options within optionsregion 126 may concern features related to program listings in grid 102or may include options available from a main menu display. Featuresrelated to program listings may include searching for other air times orways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling seriesrecording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite,purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a mainmenu display may include VOD options, parental control options, Internetoptions, volume control options, cloud-based options, devicesynchronization options, second screen device options, accessibilitysettings options, options to access various types of media guidance datadisplays, options to subscribe to a premium service, options to edit auser's profile, options to access a browse overlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channelsbased on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display ofchannels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, automatic dynamic volume rate changecontrol, customized presentation of Internet content (e.g., presentationof social media content, e-mail, electronically delivered articles,etc.) and other desired customizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the content theuser accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with theguidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application mayobtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to aparticular user (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the useraccesses, such as www.allrovi.com, from other media guidanceapplications the user accesses, from other interactive applications theuser accesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.),and/or obtain information about the user from other sources that themedia guidance application may access. As a result, a user can beprovided with a unified guidance application experience across theuser's different user equipment devices. This type of user experience isdescribed in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 4. Additionalpersonalized media guidance application features are described ingreater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No.7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 2. Video mosaic display 200 includes selectable options 202 forcontent information organized based on content type, genre, and/or otherorganization criteria. In display 200, television listings option 204 isselected, thus providing listings 206, 208, 210, and 212 as broadcastprogram listings. In display 200, the listings may provide graphicalimages including cover art, still images from the content, video clippreviews, live video from the content, or other types of content thatindicate to a user the content being described by the media guidancedata in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also beaccompanied by text to provide further information about the contentassociated with the listing. For example, listing 208 may include morethan one portion, including media portion 214 and text portion 216.Media portion 214 and/or text portion 216 may be selectable to viewcontent in full-screen or to view information related to the contentdisplayed in media portion 214 (e.g., to view listings for the channelthat the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 200 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 206 islarger than listings 208, 210, and 212), but if desired, all thelistings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user orto emphasize certain content, as desired by the content provider orbased on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphicallyaccentuating content listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed Dec. 29, 2005,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access content and the media guidance application (and itsdisplay screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 3 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 300. More specific implementations ofuser equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 4.User equipment device 300 may receive content and data via input/output(hereinafter “I/O”) path 302. I/O path 302 may provide content (e.g.,broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, contentavailable over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN),and/or other content) and data to control circuitry 304, which includesprocessing circuitry 306 and storage 308. Control circuitry 304 may beused to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable datausing I/O path 302. I/O path 302 may connect control circuitry 304 (andspecifically processing circuitry 306) to one or more communicationspaths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more ofthese communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 3 toavoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Control circuitry 304 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 306. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiples of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 executesinstructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e.,storage 308). Specifically, control circuitry 304 may be instructed bythe media guidance application to perform the functions discussed aboveand below. For example, the media guidance application may provideinstructions to control circuitry 304 to generate the media guidancedisplays. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 304 may be based on instructions received from the mediaguidance application.

In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 304 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. The instructions forcarrying out the above-mentioned functionality may be stored on theguidance application server. Communications circuitry may include acable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card,or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or anyother suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involvethe Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths(which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 4). Inaddition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enablespeer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communicationof user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (describedin more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 308 thatis part of control circuitry 304. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood tomean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, orfirmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives,optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD)recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders,digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal videorecorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gamingconsoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storagedevices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 308 may be used tostore various types of content described herein as well as mediaguidance information, described above, and guidance application data,described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used (e.g., to launch aboot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-based storage, describedin relation to FIG. 4, may be used to supplement storage 308 or insteadof storage 308.

In some embodiments, a database of visual/audible components may bestored in storage 308. The database may include a mapping betweenvisual/audible components (e.g., words, pictures, videos, and/or sounds)and a content source identifier (e.g., content source name, channel nameand/or number). The visual/audible components may include a list ofvisual components such as graphics, phrases, sounds or words thatidentify content sources and/or media assets. For example, thevisual/audible components may include a list of forms or ways that agiven content source can be represented. Specifically, a given contentsource (e.g., FOX) may be represented by words or phrases commonlyassociated with the content source and/or graphical symbols thatrepresent the content source. The visual/audible components may includea list of the different words/phrases/graphical symbols typicallyassociated with each different content source. Control circuitry 304 maycross-reference visual/audible components of a given media asset withthe database to identify the content source associated with thevisual/audible components of a given media asset.

As referred to herein, the phrase “visual component” means any portionof a given media asset that can be seen by a user or that is displayedon a screen when accessing the given media asset. As referred to herein,the phrase “audible component” means any portion of a given media assetthat can be heard by a user through an audio device (e.g., speakers orheadphones) when accessing the given media asset.

Control circuitry 304 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 304 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment 300. Circuitry 304 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and todisplay, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating,encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digitalcircuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or moregeneral purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may beprovided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and recordfunctions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,etc.). If storage 308 is provided as a separate device from userequipment 300, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multipletuners) may be associated with storage 308.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 304 using user inputinterface 310. User input interface 310 may be any suitable userinterface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard,touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognitioninterface, or other user input interfaces. Display 312 may be providedas a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of userequipment device 300. Display 312 may be one or more of a monitor, atelevision, a liquid crystal display (LCD) for a mobile device, or anyother suitable equipment for displaying visual images. In someembodiments, display 312 may be HDTV-capable. In some embodiments,display 312 may be a 3D display, and the interactive media guidanceapplication and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. A videocard or graphics card may generate the output to the display 312. Thevideo card may offer various functions such as accelerated rendering of3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or theability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be anyprocessing circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry304. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 304.Speakers 314 may be provided as integrated with other elements of userequipment device 300 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component ofvideos and other content displayed on display 312 may be played throughspeakers 314. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to areceiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers314. For example, speakers 314 may be used to sound an audible messagethat identifies a content source to the user and/or indicates that thecontent being received includes an advertisement.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitablearchitecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone application whollyimplemented on user equipment device 300. In such an approach,instructions of the application are stored locally, and data for use bythe application is downloaded on a periodic basis (e.g., from anout-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, or using another suitableapproach). In some embodiments, the media guidance application is aclient-server based application. Data for use by a thick or thin clientimplemented on user equipment device 300 is retrieved on-demand byissuing requests to a server remote to the user equipment device 300. Inone example of a client-server based guidance application, controlcircuitry 304 runs a web browser that interprets web pages provided by aremote server.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded andinterpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (runby control circuitry 304). In some embodiments, the guidance applicationmay be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 304 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 304. For example, the guidanceapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 304. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encodedand transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio andvideo packets of a program.

User equipment device 300 of FIG. 3 can be implemented in system 400 ofFIG. 4 as user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404,wireless user communications device 406, or any other type of userequipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gamingmachine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may besubstantially similar to user equipment devices described above. Userequipment devices, on which a media guidance application may beimplemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system featuresdescribed above in connection with FIG. 3 may not be classified solelyas user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, or awireless user communications device 406. For example, user televisionequipment 402 may, like some user computer equipment 404, beInternet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while usercomputer equipment 404 may, like some television equipment 402, includea tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may have the same layout on various different typesof user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of theuser equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 404, theguidance application may be provided as a website accessed by a webbrowser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled downfor wireless user communications devices 406.

In system 400, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 4 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user televisionequipment 402, user computer equipment 404, wireless user communicationsdevice 406) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example,a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first userequipment device. The content presented on the second screen device maybe any suitable content that supplements the content presented on thefirst device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the firstdevice.

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences,target volume levels, volume thresholds, volume adjustment rates, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the website www.allrovi.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 414.Namely, user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, andwireless user communications device 406 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 414 via communications paths 408, 410, and 412, respectively.Communications network 414 may be one or more networks including theInternet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, orother types of communications network or combinations of communicationsnetworks. Paths 408, 410, and 412 may separately or together include oneor more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-opticpath, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g.,IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wirelesssignals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path orcombination of such paths. Path 412 is drawn with dotted lines toindicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 4 it is awireless path and paths 408 and 410 are drawn as solid lines to indicatethey are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, ifdesired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be providedby one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a singlepath in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 408, 410, and 412, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 414.

System 400 includes content source 416 and media guidance data source418 coupled to communications network 414 via communication paths 420and 422, respectively. Paths 420 and 422 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 408, 410,and 412. Communications with the content source 416 and media guidancedata source 418 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418, but only one of each isshown in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The differenttypes of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418 may be integrated as onesource device. Although communications between sources 416 and 418 withuser equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 are shown as throughcommunications network 414, in some embodiments, sources 416 and 418 maycommunicate directly with user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 viacommunication paths (not shown) such as those described above inconnection with paths 408, 410, and 412.

Content source 416 may include one or more types of content distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demandmedia servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned bythe National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by theAmerican Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Content source 416 may be the originator ofcontent (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) ormay not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand contentprovider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs fordownloading, etc.). Content source 416 may include cable sources,satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers,over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Contentsource 416 may also include a remote media server used to storedifferent types of content (including video content selected by a user),in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely storedcontent to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connectionwith Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 418 may provide media guidance data, such asthe media guidance data described above. Media guidance application datamay be provided to the user equipment devices using any suitableapproach. In some embodiments, the guidance application may be astand-alone interactive television program guide that receives programguide data via a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed).Program schedule data and other guidance data may be provided to theuser equipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-banddigital signal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any othersuitable data transmission technique. Program schedule data and othermedia guidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analogor digital television channels. In some embodiments, a database thatmaps content source identifiers to audible messages that are stored instorage 308 may be received from data source 418.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 418may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from aserver, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing onthe user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 418 to obtainguidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of dateor when the user equipment device receives a request from the user toreceive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment withany suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specifiedperiod of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to arequest from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 418 mayprovide user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 the media guidanceapplication itself or software updates for the media guidanceapplication.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, themedia guidance application may be implemented as software or a set ofexecutable instructions which may be stored in storage 308, and executedby control circuitry 304 of a user equipment device 300. In someembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. Forexample, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as aclient application on control circuitry 304 of user equipment device 300and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., mediaguidance data source 418) running on control circuitry of the remoteserver. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server (such asmedia guidance data source 418), the media guidance application mayinstruct control circuitry 304 to generate the guidance applicationdisplays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipmentdevices. The server application may instruct control circuitry 304 ofthe media guidance data source 418 to transmit data for storage on theuser equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry304 of the receiving user equipment to generate the guidance applicationdisplays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices402, 404, and 406 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT contentdelivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any userequipment device described above, to receive content that is transferredover the Internet, including any content described above, in addition tocontent received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content isdelivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP maynot be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, orredistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets providedby the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers includeYOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IPpackets. YouTube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is atrademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu,LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively providemedia guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or mediaguidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media guidanceapplications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications),or the content can be displayed by media guidance applications stored onthe user equipment device.

Media guidance system 400 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each otherfor the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. Theembodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset ofthese approaches, or in a system employing other approaches fordelivering content and providing media guidance. The following fourapproaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 4.

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribed above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similardevice provided on a home network, or via communications network 414.Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate differentuser equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may bedesirable for various media guidance information or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/179,410, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content fromuser computer equipment to a portable video player or portable musicplayer.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, someusers may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobiledevices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Varioussystems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where theuser equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, isdiscussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issuedOct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith content source 416 to access content. Specifically, within a home,users of user television equipment 402 and user computer equipment 404may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locatedesirable content. Users may also access the media guidance applicationoutside of the home using wireless user communications devices 406 tonavigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloudcomputing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computingenvironment, various types of computing services for content sharing,storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networkingsites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing andstorage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloudcan include a collection of server computing devices, which may belocated centrally or at distributed locations, which provide cloud-basedservices to various types of users and devices connected via a networksuch as the Internet via communications network 414. These cloudresources may include one or more content sources 416 and one or moremedia guidance data sources 418. In addition or in the alternative, theremote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such asuser television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, and wirelessuser communications device 406. For example, the other user equipmentdevices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamedvideo. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in apeer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, contentsharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well asaccess to any content described above, for user equipment devices.Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing serviceproviders, or through other providers of online services. For example,the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, acontent sharing site, a social networking site, or other services viawhich user-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others onconnected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipmentdevice to store content to the cloud and to receive content from thecloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally-storedcontent.

A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, andhandheld computing devices, to record content. The user can uploadcontent to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, forexample, from user computer equipment 404 or wireless usercommunications device 406 having content capture feature. Alternatively,the user can first transfer the content to a user equipment device, suchas user computer equipment 404. The user equipment device storing thecontent uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmissionservice on communications network 414. In some embodiments, the userequipment device itself is a cloud resource, and other user equipmentdevices can access the content directly from the user equipment deviceon which the user stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, forexample, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktopapplication, a mobile application, and/or any combination of accessapplications of the same type. The user equipment device may be a cloudclient that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or theuser equipment device may have some functionality without access tocloud resources. For example, some applications running on the userequipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications deliveredas a service over the Internet, while other applications may be storedand run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user devicemay receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. Forexample, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource whiledownloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device candownload content from multiple cloud resources for more efficientdownloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloudresources for processing operations such as the processing operationsperformed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 3.

In some embodiments, a first media asset may be scheduled for recording.The first media asset may be scheduled for transmission from a firstcontent source after a second media asset is scheduled to endtransmission from the content source. The visual/audible components ofthe second media asset may be monitored to determine whether the secondmedia asset has an overrun. Alternatively or in addition, a trigger maybe received in the video signal of the second media asset indicatingthat the second media asset will have an overrun. In response todetermining that the second media asset will have an overrun, controlcircuitry 304 may monitor the visual/audible components of the secondmedia asset to determine whether information about change in thescheduled transmission of the first media asset is provided. In someimplementations, the information may indicate that the first media assetis scheduled for transmission at the originally-scheduled start timefrom a second content source instead of the first content source.Control circuitry 304 may update recording parameters of the first mediaasset to cause the first media asset to be recorded from the secondcontent source instead of the first content source at theoriginally-scheduled start time of the first media asset. In someimplementations, the information may indicate that the first media assetis scheduled for transmission at a later start time from the firstcontent source. Control circuitry 304 may update recording parameters ofthe first media asset to cause the first media asset to be recorded fromthe first content source at the later start time. This disclosure isdescribed in the context of sporting event type media assets but isapplicable to any other type of media asset.

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative display screen 500 of a media asset thatincludes information about a change affecting a scheduled recording ofanother media asset in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure.Screen 500 may include a media asset 540, a banner region 530, a mediaasset information region 550, and a score region 520.

Media asset 540 may be any content that is currently being shown orreceived over a given content source (e.g., television channel). Mediaasset 540 may be a sporting event (e.g., Family Guy v. Seinfeld or Bullsvs. Heat). Media asset 540 may include visual and/or audible components.The visual components may include images/frames of media asset 540 thatare presented on a display device. The audible components may includesounds of media asset 540 that are output through speakers.

Media asset information region 550 may include any informationassociated with one or more media assets. In some embodiments, controlcircuitry 304 may receive a user request to present region 550. Thisrequest may be received by way of the user pressing a “BROWSE” key on aremote control. In response to this request, control circuitry 304 mayaccess a program schedule database to identify the media assetsscheduled for transmission in the current time interval (e.g., 6-8 PM)over the currently tuned content source (e.g., channel 7, FOX). Controlcircuitry 304 may determine based on the retrieved schedule informationfor the currently tuned content source the title of the media assetcurrently being shown. Control circuitry 304 may present thatinformation in region 550. Control circuitry 304 may also present anidentifier 554 of the currently tuned or selected content source.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may retrieve from the programschedule database, information that identifies a plurality of othermedia assets scheduled for transmission at a later time interval thanthe current time interval. For example, if the current time interval isthe period between 6-8 PM, control circuitry 304 may also retrieve theinformation that identifies the media assets scheduled for transmissionbetween the interval of 8-9 PM. Control circuitry 304 may present thetitle of the media asset scheduled for transmission during the currenttime interval and/or the title of the media asset scheduled fortransmission during the next time interval.

For example, region 550 includes an indication of the current timeinterval (6-8 PM) and the title of the first media asset “Family Guy v.Seinfeld” or “Bulls vs. Heat” scheduled for transmission during thecurrent time interval. Region 550 also includes an indication of thenext time interval (8-9 PM) and the title of the second media asset“Dolphins v. Jets” scheduled for transmission during the next timeinterval.

In some implementations, the second media asset may have been scheduledfor recording. In some embodiments, the second media asset may have beenautomatically scheduled for recording (e.g., automatically selected forrecording based on a user profile). In some embodiments, the secondmedia asset may have been manually scheduled for recording (e.g., by auser highlighting a program listing and instructing control circuitry304 to record the corresponding program). In some implementations,control circuitry 304 may determine from the program schedule databasewhether the second media asset has been scheduled for recording. Inresponse to determining that the second media asset has been scheduledfor recording, control circuitry 304 may include a visual indication 552in region 550 to inform the user that the second media asset has beenscheduled for recording. The recording parameters associated with thesecond media asset may be stored in the program schedule information instorage 308. The recording parameters may include a title, a start time,stop time, and content source. For example, for the second media asset,the recording parameters may be the title “Dolphins v. Jets”, startingat 8 PM, stopping at 9 PM from content source, “Channel 7”.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may monitor visual/audiblecomponent(s) of the first media asset when control circuitry 304determines that the second media asset has been scheduled for recordingfrom a same content source as the first media asset. In particular,control circuitry 304 may monitor the visual/audible component(s) of afirst media asset that is scheduled for transmission from a givencontent source before a second media asset is scheduled for transmissionfrom the given content source when control circuitry 304 determines thatthe second media asset has been scheduled for recording. For example,the second media asset “Dolphins v. Jets” may be scheduled to startbeing recorded at a start time of the scheduled transmission time (e.g.,8 PM) from the Channel 7 content source. Since the first media asset“Family Guy v. Seinfeld” is scheduled for transmission during a period(e.g., 6-8 PM) that precedes the start time (e.g., 8 PM) of the secondmedia asset and the first media asset is also transmitted by the Channel7 content source, control circuitry 304 may monitor the visual/audiblecomponents of the first media asset.

In some embodiments, the visual/audible component(s) of the first mediaasset may be monitored to determine whether the first media asset willinclude an overrun. In some embodiments, in addition or alternatively,the visual/audible components of the first media asset may be monitoredto determine whether the content source from which the second mediaasset is scheduled for transmission has changed. Specifically, thevisual/audible components of the first media asset may be monitored todetermine whether the second media asset will be transmitted from asecond content source (e.g., Channel 8) instead of the first contentsource (e.g., Channel 7) at the scheduled start time of the second mediaasset (e.g., 8 PM).

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may monitor only one visualcomponent of the first media asset to determine whether the second mediaasset will be transmitted from a different content source. In someembodiments, control circuitry 304 may monitor only one audiblecomponent of the first media asset to determine whether the second mediaasset will be transmitted from a different content source. In someembodiments, control circuitry 304 may monitor multiple visualcomponents of the first media asset to determine whether the secondmedia asset will be transmitted from a different content source. In someembodiments, control circuitry 304 may monitor multiple audiblecomponents of the first media asset to determine whether the secondmedia asset will be transmitted from a different content source. In someembodiments, control circuitry 304 may monitor only one visual componentof the first media asset and only one audible component of the firstmedia asset to determine whether the second media asset will betransmitted from a different content source. In some embodiments,control circuitry 304 may monitor multiple visual components of thefirst media asset and multiple audible components of the first mediaasset to determine whether the second media asset will be transmittedfrom a different content source.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may monitor only one visualcomponent of the first media asset to determine that the first mediaasset will have an overrun. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304may monitor only one audible component of the first media asset todetermine that the first media asset will have an overrun. In someembodiments, control circuitry 304 may monitor multiple visualcomponents of the first media asset to determine that the first mediaasset will have an overrun. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304may monitor multiple audible components of the first media asset todetermine that the first media asset will have an overrun. In someembodiments, control circuitry 304 may monitor only one visual componentof the first media asset and only one audible component of the firstmedia asset to determine that the first media asset will have anoverrun. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may monitor multiplevisual components of the first media asset and multiple audiblecomponents of the first media asset to determine that the first mediaasset will have an overrun.

In some embodiments, upon determining that the content source from whichthe second media asset will be transmitted has changed, controlcircuitry 304 may modify the recording parameters of the second mediaasset. Specifically, control circuitry 304 may determine that the secondmedia asset will be transmitted at 8 PM from Channel 8 instead of fromChannel 7. Accordingly, control circuitry 304 may modify the contentsource recording parameter to be Channel 8 instead of Channel 7.

After recording of the second media asset begins from the second contentsource, in some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may monitorvisual/audible components of the second media asset while the secondmedia asset is being recorded. For example, the second media asset“Dolphins v. Jets” may be scheduled to start being recorded at a starttime of the scheduled transmission time (e.g., 8 PM) from the secondcontent source Channel 8. Control circuitry 304 may monitor thevisual/audible components of the second media asset starting at 8 PMfrom the second content source.

The visual/audible components of the second media asset may be monitoredto determine whether the content source from which the second mediaasset is now scheduled for transmission has changed back to be the firstcontent source. Specifically, the visual/audible components of thesecond media asset may be monitored to determine whether the secondmedia asset will be transmitted from the first content source (e.g., theoriginally-scheduled content source, Channel 7) instead of the secondcontent source (e.g., Channel 8) at some point during the transmissionand recording of the second media asset (e.g., 8:30 PM). In someimplementations, change in content source for the second media asset, asecond time, may occur when transmission of the first media asset ends(e.g., at the end of the sporting event, Family Guy v. Seinfeld or Bullsvs. Heat). In particular, when the first media asset is determined tohave an overrun, the second media asset may be scheduled fortransmission at the original start time from a different content source(e.g., second content source) instead of the first content source onlyuntil transmission of the first media asset ends (e.g., the end of theoverrun). Once transmission of the first media asset ends, transmissionof the second media asset may return to be from the first content sourceinstead of the second content source. In some embodiments, thevisual/audible components of the first media asset may continue to bemonitored while the second media asset is being recorded to detect whentransmission of the first media asset ends. At that point, adetermination may be made based on visual/audible components of thefirst or second media asset and/or based on an updated media assetschedule information, that transmission of the second media asset willbe changed back to the first content source from the second contentsource.

In some embodiments, upon determining that the content source from whichthe second media asset will be transmitted has changed again, controlcircuitry 304 may modify the recording parameters of the second mediaasset. Specifically, control circuitry 304 may determine that the secondmedia asset will be transmitted at 8:30 PM (e.g., at some point duringthe middle of the second media asset transmission) from Channel 7instead of from Channel 8. Accordingly, control circuitry 304 may modifythe content source recording parameter to be Channel 7 instead ofChannel 8.

In some embodiments, once a given media asset starts being recorded froma given content source specified in the associated recording parameters,control circuitry 304 may monitor visual/audible components of the givenmedia asset while the given media asset is being recorded. Thevisual/audible components of the given media asset may be monitored todetermine whether the content source from which the given media asset isbeing transmitted has changed to an alternate content source.Specifically, the visual/audible components of the given media asset maybe monitored to determine whether the given media asset will betransmitted from an alternate content source (e.g., an Internet contentsource, website) instead of the given content source (e.g., televisionchannel or other website or Internet address) at some point during thetransmission and recording of the given media asset.

In some implementations, change in content source for the given mediaasset, may occur when transmission of the given media asset isinterrupted (e.g., an emergency service announcement is made or abreaking news segment replaces the transmission of the given media assetfrom the given content source). In some embodiments, upon determiningthat the content source from which the given media asset will betransmitted has changed, control circuitry 304 may modify the recordingparameters of the given media asset. Specifically, control circuitry 304may determine that the given media asset will be transmitted at 8:30 PM(e.g., at some point during the middle of the given media assettransmission) from an Internet content source instead of from thecurrent content source (e.g., television channel or other Internetaddress). Accordingly, control circuitry 304 may modify the contentsource recording parameter to be the Internet content source instead ofthe current content source. In such circumstances, a portion of thegiven media asset is recorded from one content source and anotherportion is recorded from another content source.

In some embodiments, visual components of media assets that aremonitored may include score information. For example, first media asset540 may include a sporting event having a score. The score informationmay indicate whether the media asset will likely have an overrun. Forexample, score information region 520 may include a score for each teamor athlete in the sporting event and/or time information. The timeinformation may indicate how much time remains in the media assetsporting event. For example, the time information may indicate how muchtime has elapsed in a given period or quarter of the sporting event.Control circuitry 304 may analyze and process the information containedin score information region 520 to determine whether the media assetwill have an overrun. In particular, control circuitry 304 may retrievethe scheduled end time (e.g., 8 PM) of media asset 540 from a programschedule information database. Control circuitry 304 may approximate howmuch time is left in media asset 540 using the time remaininginformation in region 520. For example, time remaining information mayindicate that over 3 minutes are left in the sporting event. Controlcircuitry 304 may add to the current time 510 (e.g., 7:59 PM) the timeremaining to arrive at the approximate end time of media asset 540(e.g., 8:02 PM). Control circuitry 304 may compare the approximate endtime (e.g., 8:02 PM) with the scheduled end time (e.g., 8:00 PM) ofmedia asset 540. If the approximate end time is later than the scheduledend time, control circuitry 304 may detect an overrun in media asset540.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may retrieve a type ofsporting event for media asset 540. For example, the type may indicatewhether the media asset end time is determined by a measure of the scoreor by a defined time period. When the end time of the media asset isdefined by a score (e.g., the end of the sporting event is not reacheduntil a given team or athlete achieves a particular score), controlcircuitry 304 may analyze the scores indicated in region 520. Controlcircuitry 304 may determine whether the score indicated in region 520has exceeded the predefined minimum for the sporting event. If the scorehas not exceeded the minimum, control circuitry 304 may determinewhether there is a greater than threshold amount (e.g., more than 1minute) left until the scheduled end time (e.g., 8 PM) is reached. Whenthere is less than or equal to the threshold amount of time left untilthe scheduled end time and the predefined minimum score has yet to bereached, control circuitry 304 may detect an overrun.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may detect an overrun infirst media asset 540 based on a trigger received in the video signalassociated with first media asset 540. For example, a trigger mayinclude instructions that instruct control circuitry 304 to execute asubroutine for an overrun. The trigger may identify a new scheduled endtime and information that indicates the possibility in an overrun inmedia asset 540.

In some embodiments, visual components of media assets that aremonitored may include textual information overlaid on top or adjacent tomedia asset 540. For example, first media asset 540 may include bannerregion 530 in which textual information is presented. The textualinformation may include score information for other similar sportingevents, closed-caption information for media asset 540, weather reports,real-time news/score information, and/or any other type of textualcontent associated with or supplemental to media asset 540. Controlcircuitry 304 may process the textual information to identify keywordsthat may indicate an overrun in media asset 540 and/or a change in thecontent source for the second media asset that is scheduled fortransmission after media asset 540 and which has been scheduled forrecording. Keywords may include any information included in therecording parameters for the second media asset, a title or a portion ofthe title of the second media asset, athletes or character namesassociated with the second media asset, or any other list of phrasesthat may indicate an overrun (e.g., “overtime”, “will not end on time”,or the like). The keywords may be stored in a database. Controlcircuitry 304 may cross-reference the words/phrases with the database ofkeywords to identify a match. The database may indicate what action isassociated with the match (e.g., whether the match indicates an overrunor a change in content source).

In response to determining that one of the words/phrases in the textualinformation matches a keyword, control circuitry 304 may determinewhether the keyword is associated with an overrun or a change in contentsource. For example, the keyword “overtime” may indicate that mediaasset 540 will have an overrun. Accordingly, control circuitry 304 mayperform an action associated with the overrun (e.g., extend a scheduledrecording and/or monitor for a change in content source for the secondmedia asset). Alternatively or in addition, when control circuitry 304detects that the textual information matches a keyword identifying thesecond media asset, control circuitry 304 may process adjacent words inthe textual information to determine whether there has been a change tothe content source of the second media asset. For example, controlcircuitry 304 may detect that the textual information identifies thesecond media asset (e.g., “Dolphins v. Jets”) by a portion of the title(e.g., “Dolphins” game). The adjacent words may indicate that theidentified media asset will be shown on a second content source (e.g.,FOX2, Channel 8) “instead” of the first content source (e.g., FOX,Channel 7). In response, control circuitry 304 may update the recordingparameters of the second media asset to cause the second media asset tobe recorded from the second content source at the scheduled start timeof 8 PM instead of the first content source.

In some embodiments, audible components of media assets that aremonitored may include voices of announcers/narrators/persons speaking inmedia asset 540. For example, the voices may be processed by controlcircuitry 304 which may perform speech-to-text conversion on the soundsto output textual information. The textual information that is outputfrom the speech-to-text conversion may include score information forother similar sporting events, closed-caption information for mediaasset 540, weather reports, real-time news/score information, and/or anyother type of textual content associated with or supplemental to mediaasset 540. Control circuitry 304 may process the textual information toidentify keywords that may indicate an overrun in media asset 540 and/ora change in the content source for the second media asset that isscheduled for transmission after media asset 540 and which has beenscheduled for recording. Keywords may include any information includedin the recording parameters for the second media asset, a title or aportion of the title of the second media asset, athletes or characternames associated with the second media asset, or any other list ofphrases that may indicate an overrun (e.g., “overtime”, “will not end ontime”, or the like).

In response to determining that one of the words/phrases in the textualinformation that is output from the speech-to-text conversion matches akeyword, control circuitry 304 may determine whether the keyword isassociated with an overrun or a change in content source. For example,the keyword “overtime” may indicate that media asset 540 will have anoverrun. Accordingly, control circuitry 304 may perform an actionassociated with the overrun (e.g., extend a scheduled recording and/ormonitor for a change in content source for the second media asset).Alternatively or in addition, when control circuitry 304 detects thatthe textual information that is output from the speech-to-textconversion matches a keyword identifying the second media asset, controlcircuitry 304 may process adjacent words in the textual information todetermine whether there has been a change to the content source of thesecond media asset. For example, control circuitry 304 may detect thatthe textual information identifies the second media asset (e.g.,“Dolphins v. Jets”) by a portion of the title (e.g., “Dolphins” game).The adjacent words may indicate that the identified media asset will beshown on a second content source (e.g., FOX2, Channel 8) “instead” ofthe first content source (e.g., FOX, Channel 7). In response, controlcircuitry 304 may update the recording parameters of the second mediaasset to cause the second media asset to be recorded from the secondcontent source at the scheduled start time of 8 PM instead of the firstcontent source.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may detect the change incontent source of the second media asset based on a trigger received inthe video signal associated with first media asset 540. For example, atrigger may include instructions that instruct control circuitry 304 tochange the content source recording parameter of the recordingparameters of the second media asset to identify the second contentsource instead of the first content source.

In some embodiments, a media asset may be scheduled for recording from afirst content source. The scheduled recording of the media asset may bemodified to record the first media asset from the second content sourceinstead of the first content source at some point in the middle of thetransmission of the media asset. In particular, the media asset mayinitially start being recorded from a first content source and at somepoint in the middle or elsewhere (e.g., 10 minutes after the start timeof the media asset) of the transmission of the media asset, an event maycause the first media asset to be transmitted from a second contentsource instead of the first content source. For example, a news alert(event or disruption) may disrupt transmission of the media asset fromthe first content source. In order to prevent discontinuity inreceipt/recording of the media asset, the media asset may be transmittedfrom a second content source instead when the disruption (event) occurs.

In some implementations, at least one of the visual component(s) and theaudible component(s) of the media asset from the first content sourcemay be monitored while the first media asset is being recorded from thefirst content source to detect the event or disruption (e.g., aninterruption, breaking news announcement or service alert message). Forexample, control circuitry 304 may monitor the video and/or audio of themedia asset to detect the service alert or news alert. In someimplementations, control circuitry 304 may process the at least one of avisual component(s) and an audible component(s) to determine whether acontent source from which the first media asset is being transmitted hasbeen changed from the first content source to a second content source.For example, the news alert may include information about the mediaasset transmission indicating that transmission will resume or continuefrom another content source while the news alert is being provided.Specifically, a breaking news segment may interrupt transmission of themedia asset from the first content source (e.g., Channel 1) and mayinclude an announcement indicating that transmission of the media assetwill resume from another content source (e.g., Channel 2). In someimplementations, the determination and detection of the event orinterruption may be based on a trigger received in the video signal ofthe media asset. The trigger may include instructions that identify theinterruption or event and indicate from which other content source(i.e., the second content source) the transmission of the media assetwill resume or continue.

Responsive to determining that the content source of the media asset hasbeen changed, control circuitry 304 may modify the recording of themedia asset to continue recording the media asset from the secondcontent source instead of the first content source. Accordingly, a firstportion of the media asset (e.g., the portion preceding the event ornews alert) may be recorded from the first content source and a secondportion of the media asset (e.g., the portion following the event ornews alert) may be recorded from the second content source.

In some embodiments, a media asset may be scheduled for recording from afirst content source. The scheduled recording of the media asset may bemodified to record the first media asset at a later time at some pointin the middle of the transmission of the media asset. In particular, themedia asset may initially start being recorded from a first contentsource and at some point in the middle or elsewhere (e.g., 10 minutesafter the start time of the media asset) of the transmission of themedia asset, an event may cause transmission of the first media asset tobe terminated and postponed to a later time/date. For example, a newsalert (event or disruption) may disrupt transmission of the media assetfrom the first content source. In order to prevent discontinuity inreceipt/recording of the media asset, the media asset may bere-transmitted at a later time/date when the disruption (event) occurs.The retransmission may be from the same first content source or adifferent content source as discussed above.

In some implementations, at least one of the visual component(s) and theaudible component(s) of the media asset from the first content sourcemay be monitored while the first media asset is being recorded from thefirst content source to detect the event or disruption (e.g., aninterruption, breaking news announcement or service alert message). Forexample, control circuitry 304 may monitor the video and/or audio of themedia asset to detect the service alert or news alert. In someimplementations, control circuitry 304 may process the at least one of avisual component(s) and an audible component(s) to determine whether themedia asset will be retransmitted or continue to be transmitted at alater time/date. For example, the news alert may include informationabout the media asset transmission indicating that transmission willresume, restart or continue at some point in the future. Specifically, abreaking news segment may interrupt transmission of the media asset fromthe first content source (e.g., at 6 PM) and may include an announcementindicating that transmission of the media asset will resume or restartat 10 PM. In some implementations, the determination and detection ofthe event or interruption may be based on a trigger received in thevideo signal of the media asset. The trigger may include instructionsthat identify the interruption or event and indicate the time/date (andcontent source if different from the first content source) that thetransmission of the media asset will resume, restart or continue.

Responsive to determining that transmission of the media asset has beenpostponed, control circuitry 304 may modify the recording of the mediaasset to continue or restart recording of the media asset at the latertime/date (and if applicable from a different content source).Accordingly, a first portion of the media asset (e.g., the portionpreceding the event or news alert) may be recorded from the start timeto one point in time and a second portion of the media asset (e.g., theportion following the event or news alert) may be recorded from thetime/date when transmission resumes or restarts until the end of themedia asset.

The above and below discussion of embodiments pertain to visual/audiblecomponents of first media asset 540 being displayed. However, controlcircuitry 304 may perform the same or similar functions without actuallydisplaying first media asset 540. Control circuitry 304 may tune oraccess the content source of first media asset 540 without displayingthe media asset, and may process the visual/audible components thatwould have been displayed if the user were watching the media asset, inorder to detect an overrun and/or a change to a content source ofanother media asset.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram describing the process 600 of processingaudible/visual components of a second media asset to modify recordingparameter of a first media asset in accordance with some embodiments ofthe disclosure. At step 610, a recording of a first media asset isscheduled, where the first media asset is scheduled for transmissionfrom a first content source at a start time. For example, controlcircuitry 304 may automatically select the first media asset forrecording based on a user profile. Alternatively or in addition, controlcircuitry 304 may receive a user selection of the first media asset anda request to schedule the first media asset for recording.

At step 620, a second media asset is identified for which transmissionis scheduled to end from the first content source before the start timeof the first media asset. For example, control circuitry 304 mayretrieve from a program schedule information database a list of mediaassets scheduled for transmission from the first content source beforethe start time of the first media asset. Specifically, control circuitry304 may generate an SQL query that includes an identifier of the firstcontent source and the start time of the first media asset and thatrequests a list of one or more media assets and their correspondingstart times preceding the start time of the first media asset. The SQLquery may be transmitted to a local or remote database which may returnthe list of one or more media assets (e.g., that includes the secondmedia asset) scheduled for transmission before the start time from thefirst content source. The second media asset may be a media asset thatis scheduled for transmission during a time interval that immediatelyprecedes the scheduled start time of the first media asset (e.g., thesecond media asset may be scheduled for transmission from 7-8 PM wherethe first media asset is scheduled for transmission between 8-9 PM).Alternatively, the second media asset may be a media asset that isscheduled for transmission during a time interval that is some amount oftime before the scheduled start time (e.g., the second media asset maybe scheduled for transmission from 5-6 PM where the first media asset isscheduled for transmission between 8-9 PM). Specifically, a third mediaasset may be scheduled for transmission between transmission of thefirst and second media assets.

At step 630, a determination is made as to whether the scheduledtransmission of the second media asset has begun. In response todetermining that transmission of the second media asset has begun, theprocess proceeds to step 640, otherwise the process proceeds to step630.

At step 640, information associated with the second media asset isprocessed. For example, control circuitry 304 may process informationreceived in a trigger included in a video signal of the second mediaasset. Alternatively or in addition, control circuitry 304 may process avisual/audible component of the second media asset. Specifically,control circuitry 304 may process score information or time remaininginformation associated with the second media asset.

At step 650, the processed information is used to detect thattransmission of the second media asset will continue beyond thepreviously scheduled end time. For example, control circuitry 304 mayuse the information included in the trigger and/or the visual/audiblecomponent of the second media asset to determine whether the secondmedia asset will have an overrun.

At step 660, a visual/audible component of the second media asset isprocessed. For example, control circuitry 304 may process textualinformation presented with the second media asset to identify one ormore keywords. Alternatively or in addition, control circuitry 304 mayperform speech-to-text techniques to convert voice or sounds of thesecond media asset into textual information. Control circuitry 304 maytransmit an SQL query to a database to determine whether the textualinformation includes keywords that are stored in the database. Thekeywords may indicate whether the second media asset will have anoverrun and/or whether there is a change in content source of the firstmedia asset.

At step 670, a determination is made as to whether the visual/audiblecomponent of the second media asset identifies a change in contentsource from which the first media asset was scheduled for transmission.In response to determining that the visual/audible component identifiesa change, the process proceeds to step 680, otherwise the processproceeds to step 690. For example, control circuitry 304 may receive anindication from the local or remote database that the textualinformation matches one or more keywords. The indication may indicatewhether the visual/audible component identifies an overrun or change incontent source of another media asset.

At step 680, the processed visual/audible component is cross-referencedwith a database to identify a second content source identified by thevisual/audible component. For example, control circuitry 304, uponreceiving indication from the database that the textual information isassociated with a change in content source, control circuitry 304 maygenerate an SQL query with one or more adjacent words in the textualinformation. The SQL query may be transmitted to the local or remotedatabase to identify the content source indicated by the textualinformation. The second content source may be identified by the databaseas being associated with the textual information.

At step 682, the identified second content source from which the firstmedia asset will be transmitted at the start time is selected.

At step 683, a content source parameter of the scheduled recording ofthe first media asset is changed/modified from the first content sourceto the second content source. For example, control circuitry 304 mayupdate the recording parameters, of the first media asset, stored instorage 308 to identify the second content source instead of the firstcontent source.

At step 684, the first media asset is recorded at the start time fromthe second content source instead of the first content source. Forexample, control circuitry 304 may initiate recording of the first mediaasset based on the information contained in the recording parameterswhich may identify the second content source.

At step 690, the scheduled recording of the first media asset isextended by modifying an end time parameter of the scheduled recording.For example, control circuitry 304 may automatically add a predeterminedor user specified amount of time (e.g., 30 minutes) to the end timespecified in the end time recording parameter of the first media assetwhen the audible/visual component indicates an overrun in the secondmedia asset but the first media asset is still scheduled fortransmission from the first content source. Alternatively, controlcircuitry 304 may prompt the user to add a predetermined or userspecified amount of time (e.g., 30 minutes) to the end time specified inthe end time recording parameter of the first media asset when theaudible/visual component indicates an overrun in the second media assetbut the first media asset is still scheduled for transmission from thefirst content source.

It should be understood that the above steps of the flow diagram of FIG.6 may be executed or performed in any order or sequence not limited tothe order and sequence shown and described in the figure. Also, some ofthe above steps of the flow diagram of FIG. 6 may be executed orperformed substantially simultaneously where appropriate or in parallelto reduce latency and processing times.

The above-described embodiments of the present disclosure are presentedfor purposes of illustration and not of limitation, and the presentdisclosure is limited only by the claims which follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for modifying a scheduled recording, themethod comprising: scheduling a recording of a first media asset from afirst content source, wherein the first media asset is scheduled fortransmission at a start time from the first content source, and whereinthe start time of the first media asset follows a scheduled end time oftransmission of a second media asset from the first content source;detecting that the transmission of the second media asset from the firstcontent source will continue beyond the scheduled end time: monitoring,using monitoring circuitry, at least one of a visual component and anaudible component of the second media asset to generate textualinformation, wherein the monitoring circuitry includes a speech-to-textengine; responsive to the detecting, determining, based on the generatedtextual information, that a content source from which the first mediaasset was originally scheduled to be transmitted at the start time hasbeen changed from the first content source to a second content source;and modifying the scheduled recording of the first media asset to recordthe first media asset at the start time from the second content sourceinstead of the first content source.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinthe determining is based on the visual component, further comprisingprocessing the textual information to identify a word or phrase thatindicates that the second media asset will continue beyond the scheduledend time and that a content source from which the first media asset wasoriginally scheduled to be transmitted at the start time has beenchanged.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the word or phrase identifiesthe second content source.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the firstmedia asset is recorded from the second content source while the secondmedia asset continues to be transmitted from the first content source.5. The method of claim 1 further comprising: monitoring the at least oneof the visual component and the audible component of the second mediaasset from the first content source while the first media asset is beingrecorded from the second content source; determining when the secondmedia asset will end based on the monitored at least one of the visualcomponent and the audible component of the second media asset; andmodifying the scheduled recording of the first media asset to record thefirst media asset from the first content source instead of the secondcontent source when the second media asset ends.
 6. The method of claim1, wherein a first portion of the first media asset is recorded from thefirst content source and a second portion of the first media asset isrecorded from the second content source.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein the detecting that the transmission of the second media assetwill continue beyond the scheduled end time is performed based on the atleast one of the visual component and the audible component of thesecond media asset.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting thatthe transmission of the second media asset will continue beyond thescheduled end time is performed in response to receiving a trigger fromthe first content source indicating that the transmission will continuebeyond the scheduled end time.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein thevisual component includes at least one of closed-caption information, ascore associated with the second media asset, a visual prompt, and abanner that includes a message that indicates that the content sourcefrom which the first media asset was originally scheduled to betransmitted at the start time has been changed.
 10. The method of claim1, wherein the audible component includes an audible message orannouncement that indicates that the content source from which the firstmedia asset was originally scheduled to be transmitted at the start timehas been changed.
 11. A system for modifying a scheduled recording, thesystem comprising: control circuitry configured to: schedule a recordingof a first media asset from a first content source, wherein the firstmedia asset is scheduled for transmission at a start time from the firstcontent source, and wherein the start time of the first media assetfollows a scheduled end time of transmission of a second media assetfrom the first content source; detect that the transmission of thesecond media asset from the first content source will continue beyondthe scheduled end time monitor, using monitoring circuitry, at least oneof a visual component and an audible component of the second media assetto generate textual information, wherein the monitoring circuitryincludes a speech-to-text engine; responsive to the detecting,determine, based on the generated textual information, that a contentsource from which the first media asset was originally scheduled to betransmitted at the start time has been changed from the first contentsource to a second content source; and modify the scheduled recording ofthe first media asset to record the first media asset at the start timefrom the second content source instead of the first content source. 12.The system of claim 11, wherein the determining is based on the visualcomponent, and wherein the control circuitry is further configured toprocess the textual information to identify a word or phrase thatindicates that the second media asset will continue beyond the scheduledend time and that a content source from which the first media asset wasoriginally scheduled to be transmitted at the start time has beenchanged.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the word or phraseidentifies the second content source.
 14. The system of claim 11,wherein the first media asset is recorded from the second content sourcewhile the second media asset continues to be transmitted from the firstcontent source.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein the controlcircuitry is further configured to: monitor the at least one of thevisual component and the audible component of the second media assetfrom the first content source while the first media asset is beingrecorded from the second content source; determine when the second mediaasset will end based on the monitored at least one of the visualcomponent and the audible component of the second media asset; andmodify the scheduled recording of the first media asset to record thefirst media asset from the first content source instead of the secondcontent source when the second media asset ends.
 16. The system of claim11, wherein a first portion of the first media asset is recorded fromthe first content source and a second portion of the first media assetis recorded from the second content source.
 17. The system of claim 11,wherein the detection is performed based on the at least one of thevisual component and the audible component of the second media asset.18. The system of claim 11, wherein the detection is performed inresponse to receiving a trigger from the first content source indicatingthat the transmission will continue beyond the scheduled end time. 19.The system of claim 11, wherein the visual component includes at leastone of closed-caption information, a score associated with the secondmedia asset, a visual prompt, and a banner that includes a message thatindicates that the content source from which the first media asset wasoriginally scheduled to be transmitted at the start time has beenchanged.
 20. The system of claim 11, wherein the audible componentincludes an audible message or announcement that indicates that thecontent source from which the first media asset was originally scheduledto be transmitted at the start time has been changed.